Virgil van Dijk has his eyes on prizes beyond the Carabao Cup after leading Liverpool to victory in Sunday’s Wembley showpiece.
Van Dijk came up with the goods to head home a dramatic late winner, with the Reds coming out 1-0 victors over Chelsea.
One of the most impressive and memorable trophy wins of the Jurgen Klopp era, Liverpool’s skipper is determined to make sure that this isn’t the final piece of silverware the Reds claim in what is his manager’s final season at Anfield.
“I won’t speak too soon, but hopefully we can win a few more,” Van Dijk told Sky Sports.
“The talk about it being Klopp’s last season is not from within the squad, that is from the outside.”
The triumph came despite Liverpool’s severe squad depletion. None of Mohamed Salah, Dominik Szoboszlai or Darwin Nunez were deemed fit enough to feature, and thus joined the likes of Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Diogo Jota on the sidelines for the contest.
Their lack of options was clear to see during the game, with an array of youngsters on the field come the final whistle. This included Bobby Clark, James McConnell and Jayden Danns – who only made his senior debut in midweek.
However, despite their relative inexperience, the academy graduates stepped onto the plate on the biggest stage, helping deliver Liverpool a 10th League Cup title.
“All the young boys on the pitch, if you see the extra-time, it’s incredible. I’m so proud of the team,” Van Dijk added
“An intense game for both sides, they had chances, we had chances and [it’s] amazing. First trophy as the Liverpool captain – it’s all for the fans so let’s enjoy it.
“You should always savour the good moments and this is definitely one of them. We will never take these things for granted, we are very, very blessed and you see today as well that it could have been the other way, we could have lost.
“But we didn’t, we did the job, even with all the problems that we had before the game and during the game – and yeah, I am so proud. I’m always proud to be part of this club but especially proud of the boys. They all played their part so it’s all credit to the team.”
